


Nerves

by IndigoSkies



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 19:14:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7653454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoSkies/pseuds/IndigoSkies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the day of the first round of the Kantou Tournament, and Yamabuki's first match after losing Akutsu, the newest regular Muromachi is rather nervous.  The rest of the team hatches a plan to calm him down, but it has some unexpected results...</p><p>Based off of a scene from Tenimyu's 3rd Season Seigaku vs Hyoutei, so warning for spoilers, but it's not at all necessary to have watched the musical.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nerves

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a certain scene from Seigaku vs Hyoutei, and Yamabuki fandom's attempts at rationalizing it.
> 
> Muromachirarizumu is a tennis move that's been appearing on and off as higawari/ad-libs in the musical. Chirarizumu is a term for things like panty shots, bra shots, etc, like getting a flash of something usually hidden? I wanted to make a joke out of the name but I don't know if it comes across well in English, sorry /o\

Minami was usually the first to arrive when Yamabuki met up.  Even when they weren't at school, he still had a responsibility as the captain to lead the team.  Typically this involved bringing the medical kit, extra equipment, and - captain's treat - a cooler full of sports drinks and orange slices to keep everyone going through the summer heat.  But his parents usually gave him a ride to the courts, so unless he needed an extra hand for some reason, he liked to arrive first and get everything sorted before the rest of his team showed up. 

So he was surprised to arrive at the courts thirty minutes early and find not one, not two, but almost the entire regular lineup (plus Dan) waiting for _him_  at the meeting area.

He was even more surprised to see every one of them look like they were going to be sick.

"What's going on?"  His mind raced through a million possibilities.  Food poisoning? No, they had eaten as a team last night and he felt fine.  Did something happen to Nishikiori?  He wasn't there... But wouldn't the captain be the first to hear about any incidents?

Muromachi barely looked at him before looking back down at the ground and explaining.  "E-everyone's nervous and came early..."

Something looked off about Muromachi, but Minami couldn't place it.  He frowned.  "Nervous?"

"Yeah." Muromachi nodded, and his sunglasses bounced a bit, looking precarious.

_Ah_ , Minami thought.  "Your sunglasses are upside down." He informed Muromachi.

"Oh!" Muromachi rushed to fix his sunglasses, but as he pulled them off his face his hand was shaking so much he dropped them.  They clattered to the ground and landed near Minami, who picked them up and presented them to Muromachi right-side-up.  Muromachi took them in both hands this time and slid them back onto his face, embarrassed.  "Thanks, buchou."

"Why is everyone nervous?"

"It's the K-Kantou tournament..."  Muromachi gulped.  "D-d-do you think we can really do it...?"

"What do you mean, do you think we can do it?! That's what we've been practicing for, isn't it?"

"But Akutsu-san left, and - it's not that I don't believe in you senpai, but if anything does happen and it comes down to me...I haven't even played one official match yet this year..."

"I thought you were tired of _not_  playing.  You were begging me to put you in this round so you'd get to play no matter what."

"Yeah, but..."  Muromachi was interrupted by a shout from Kita.  They turned to look at the doubles pair.

"S-senpai, what happened to your plant?!"

"I got too nervous this morning and a-a-a-accidentally watered it with hot water..."  Nitobe winced at the memory, reaching up to pat the leaves in apology.

"Hot water?!"  Kita's eyes widened, and he immediately latched onto Nitobe's shoulders, pushing Nitobe down a little so he could blow on the plant.

"Yeah..."  Nitobe nodded unhappily and tilted his head forward to give Kita a better angle. Minami watched in confusion.  Wasn't the plant fake...?  More importantly, what was a Nationals-level doubles pair doing getting nervous over Kantou??

A racket clattered to the ground, and he turned to the source to see Sengoku kneeling on the pavement.  He covered his eyes with his hands, like he was too scared to look at the racket.  Dan crouched next to him, pen hovering over a page of his notebook in anticipation.  Finally, Sengoku tentatively peeked through his fingers.

"Rough..."  His hands dropped to his sides.  "Wrong again..."  Sengoku moaned, then looked up at Minami in despair.  "My luck is gone..."

"Your luck is gone."  Minami repeated flatly.

Sengoku nodded, and Dan turned his notebook around to show Minami.  "Da-da-da-dan! S-Sengoku-senpai's been doing racket tosses since we got here and hasn't won even one!  This is really bad!"

"I looked up my fortune for today and it's terrible...and then I looked up Muromachi-kun's and it was even worse..."

"What?!"  Muromachi stared at Sengoku in horror.

Sengoku continued solemnly.  "Do you want to know your unlucky color?"

Muromachi nodded frantically.

"Golden yellow.  Also known as...yamabuki."

"Whaaaaat?!"  The others all gasped.

Minami sighed.  It was one thing for everyone to go along with Sengoku being 'lucky' (the song _was_  pretty catchy), but there was no way luck could affect a match _that_ much.  Tennis was a game of skill, and as long as they were better than their opponents (which they were, he was sure of it) they would win regardless of what some fortune on the internet said.  He opened his mouth to say so when-

"Everyone, calm down!"  Higashikata started before he could, and Minami smiled in relief.  He could always count on his partner to be sensible and not get dragged into-

"Let's...let's...leeeeeet's just not worry about it and play like usual! Okay?!"  Higashikata stuttered, and his voice cracked on the third try.  Minami put his head in his hands and groaned.

_What happened to my team..._

 

* * *

 

"...I think I'm going to be sick."  Muromachi stood up suddenly, grabbing his bag and racing towards the bathroom. 

"Me too."  Sengoku and Dan followed him, clutching their stomachs.

"Us too..."  Nitobe and Kita looked at each other, then ran off as well.

Minami watched them leave in disbelief, then looked back at Higashikata.

"What's gotten into everyone?!"

Higashikata took a deep breath, then grinned sheepishly at Minami, nervousness all but disappearing.

"Sorry."

"What?"

"It was Sengoku's idea.  For Muromachi."

Minami stared, realization slowly dawning.  It was Muromachi's first summer as a regular, and despite his total confidence in his senpai he did tend to get nervous when he himself was under pressure.  However, he was also the kind of person to try and play it cool, which could lead to bottled-up feelings making everything worse.  With the others seemingly nervous as well, he wasn't afraid of looking weak in front of his senpai, and could be honest about his own feelings. "Ohhh."

"Did you think we were actually nervous? With Ikari as our first-round opponents?"

"You could have warned me."  Minami frowned.

"Sorry.  Sengoku thought your reaction would be better if you weren't in on it."

Minami ignored the underlying criticism of his acting skills.  "Okay, so now what?"

"Now despite our nervousness we win easily, taking the pressure off of singles 1 and giving Muromachi the confidence he needs to play well and beat Ikari.  Then, with one win behind him, he'll be more confident in the future, even when he's playing under pressure." Higashikata explained, but looked a bit uncertain. "...According to Sengoku."

Minami nodded.  It didn't sound like a bad plan; he was sure they could beat their opponents, and Muromachi was the type to get caught up in the excitement of his senpai's matches...

* * *

...except he didn't.

"I can't do this."  Muromachi held his racket to his chest and shook his head.

"Yes, you can."  Minami pushed Muromachi towards the courts, exasperated.  "Stop worrying about Sengoku's fortune-telling-" He shot a glare at Sengoku, who winced and scratched his head in embarrassment.  "-and just play like usual."

"But..."

"We already won. Even if you lose - _if_ \- we're moving on to the next round, so there's no pressure.  Just play."

"Okay..."

"Muromachi-senpai, good luck!"  Dan encouraged him.

"Flash him with your Muromachirarizumu!" Kita said.  Nitobe stifled a laugh.

"Yeah! Flash him!" Dan agreed enthusiastically, then tilted his head questioningly, looking up at his senpai.  "What does that mean, anyway?"

"Uhh..."

Muromachi didn't seem to be listening, walking to the court nervously.  He shook hands with his opponent and moved to the base line to serve.  Yamabuki watched in anticipation as he bounced the ball up and down. Up and down. Up and-

"Please serve." The referee called over, and Muromachi caught the ball.  He nodded to himself, seemingly determined, and Minami smiled in relief.

"Looks like he's finally--"

"I forfeit."

"What?!"

* * *

Minami stood, arms crossed, looking as menacing as possible to the other four regulars on their knees in front of him.

"I'm sorry!"  Kita bowed.

"It would have gone as planned if Sengoku hadn't told him he had terrible luck."  Nitobe grumbled, sitting back on his ankles rather than following his doubles partner's lead. "You know how much he idolizes you..."

Sengoku hung his head.  "Sorry..."

"Sorry, Minami..."

"I know you had good intentions."  Minami began walking in front of them, pacing from Kita to Higashikata and back.  "And we won the match, so it didn't have any lasting consequences on the team. But think about your actions, okay? Now he's going to be even more nervous next time."

"Sorry..."

"No more talk about luck, okay?" Minami looked pointedly at Sengoku.

"Whaaat? But I'm Lucky Sengoku! I can't just drop that!"

"Okay, fine." Minami rolled his eyes. "No more talk about _bad_ luck."

"But if you talk about good luck then wouldn't not talking about luck at all mean bad luck?"  Kita tilted his head.

"Don't push it!" Minami glared at Kita, who immediately sat up straight again.

"Right!"

"Higashikata! No more hiding things like this from me, okay?"

"Sorry..."

"And you!" Minami pointed towards Nitobe, who raised an eyebrow.  Minami suddenly realized he had nothing to say to Nitobe, and said the first thing that came to mind instead.  "Just...take care of your plant, okay??"

"Don't worry, I always check the temperature before I water it!"  Kita reassured Minami.

" _You_  water it?!"

"Of course!  What kind of kouhai would I be if I didn't?!" Kita turned to Nitobe, and they each held a finger up, tilted their heads, and spoke in perfect sync.  "Right?"

"Huh, is that how that works?"  Sengoku perked up.  "Maybe I should get Muromachi to-"

"Enough about Muromachi! You guys messed with him enough already!  Twenty laps, all of you!"

"Awww..." Sengoku sighed as he got to his feet.  "I wonder if I can get Dan-kun to check my fortune for me instead..."

The mention of Dan reminded Minami of something else he needed to bring up.  

"And!" He said loudly, and the others stopped in their tracks.  "I got a message today regarding a certain rumor going around about Hyoutei's Atobe."

"Atobe?" The four in front of him shared a confused look.

"He's traced it back to Yamabuki, and he seems _pretty_ pissed, so I told him he'd get a personal apology from whoever's responsible." He stressed 'personal apology', and they immediately started talking over each other.

"But we didn't-"

"What are you-"

"I haven't heard-"

He held a hand up, and the room instantly fell silent.

"Which one of you told Dan-kun 'flashed' is just a fancy way to say 'awed'?"


End file.
